Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants) Ltd has been trading for over 150 years and is currently headed up by father-and-son Vincent and David Pierce. Based in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, the family-run business has expanded its operations in recent years with the acquisition of Ilyich Wool Washers Ltd in Belarus and wool intake points in Croatia and Greece.

Originally established in the mid-1800s as an agricultural merchant, the company now specialises in the sourcing, classification, sale and export of fleece wools throughout the world. The business had been based in Tinahely before Vincent’s father, Laurence, bought Walsh’s Hotel in Rathdrum and starting buying wool from the many sheep farmers in the area.

In 1980, Vincent set up Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants) Ltd and had a wool depot in nearly every town and village in Ireland, in addition to 20 wool depots in England. Since then, the number of sheep in Ireland has fallen dramatically, and the company has reduced the number of its intake depots accordingly. Currently, there are 25 intake depots conveniently located around Ireland as well as a packing station in Tuam, Co. Galway, which is run in partnership with the UK-owned H Dawson Sons & Co Wool Ltd, which complements the packing station in Rathdrum.

Wool producers can bring fleece wool to these depots for weighing, inspection and usually payment on the same day. Each packing station handles approximately 1,500 tonnes of wool per year. Despite the reduction in sheep, Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants) continues to have a very strong and loyal customer-base and remains one of a handful of wool merchants in Ireland.

Operating in the UK market for the past 14 years, the company runs another packing station in Bradford, West Yorkshire in conjunction with Curtis Wool Holdings Ltd, which is the largest wool merchanting and processing company of its kind in the Northern Hemisphere and the largest buyer of wool through the British Wool Marketing Board auctions system.

Approximately three million kilograms of wool is supplied to Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants) Ltd in Ireland each year, and a further one-and-a-half million kilograms in the UK.

Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants) Ltd exports Irish wool all over the world. Among the countries it trades with are Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Pakistan, Croatia, Kazakhstan and China.

Irish wools have always been renowned for their unique properties which allow them to be used in carpet and construction materials alike. This has enabled the company to operate a number of spin-off businesses, namely Heather Wools, Sheep Wool Insulation and IMPET JV. Heather Wools was set up 40 years ago by Vincent to supply knitting yarn, patterns and accessories.

David set up Sheep Wool Insulation 15 years ago as a way to make use of black wool by turning it into insulation for houses. Used as a building insulator, the wool is an environmentally-friendly alternative to standard insulation. It also has great sound proofing qualities and has been used in Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin.

“Black wool is poor quality compared to other wool types, but it can be used as thermal and acoustic insulation in buildings. It works as well on a house and it does on a sheep,” Vincent explains.

The company’s willingness and ability to diversify has been crucial to its success. Its range of products now includes everything from greasy and scoured wools, knitting wools and finished garments to thermal and acoustic wool-based insulation products.

“When sheep numbers started to decline in this country, we had to come up with new ideas to stay in business. There are different grades of wool which we have established different markets for. For example, about 90 per cent of our greasy wool is exported to China, with the remaining 10 per cent going to UK carpet mills,” Vincent says.

The family business’ expansion into the huge Chinese and Russian markets has been made possible by the purchase of the Ilyich Wool Washers facility in the Belarussian village of Ilyich seven years ago. First opened in 1963 with the objective of providing the light industry enterprises of Belarus with a wide range of scoured wool, the facility reached its peak in the mid-1980s when it produced more than 10,000 tonnes of scoured wool per year.

However, production fell dramatically thereafter until the takeover by Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants), who took several measures to increase the load of the enterprise and achieve its economic stability. The facility employs 170 highly-qualified specialists in the field of world sorting and scouring, while the laboratory is equipped with the necessary tools and equipment for determining the quality indicators of wool and assurance quality certificates.

Another Belarus-based business Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants) is involved in is IMPET JV, which specialises in knitting garment manufacturing and software development and design.

“Ilyich Wool Washers has a great name in China, which has become our biggest market. The Chinese economy is struggling a bit at the moment, but we can’t really complain because we’re after two or three good years out there. The wool business has always had its ups and downs, so we’re used to fluctuating prices,” the affable managing director adds.

Between all of its enterprises in Ireland, the UK and Belarus, Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants) employs 250 staff. At its peak, the main office and depot in Rathdrum employed a lot of workers from the area, while the increased trade in the summer when sheep were shorn also saw hundreds of students being taken on over the years.

As well as providing employment in the area, the long-established company has been a great supporter of local organisations and events down the years. It is proud to support the Rathdrum Rugby club, which is one of Leinster’s fastest growing clubs.

Laurence Pierce (Wool Merchants) Ltd
Unit 1,
Railway Business Park,
Rathdrum,
Co. Wicklow.

Telephone: 0404 46410

Fax: 0404 46452

Website: www.wool.ie

Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 11, December 2015

Laurence Pierce, Merchants, Wool